We Speak Financials

The Lakers Sale Closes In on a Record $12.5 Billion Valuation

Published

4 days ago

November 11, 2026

Crypto.com Arena, home of the Los Angeles Lakers. Photo by Troutfarm27, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The biggest franchise sale in sports history is nearly across the finish line. Mark Walter and Josh Kushner have agreed on all outstanding terms for the sale of the Los Angeles Lakers at a $12.5 billion valuation, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported, a figure that sets the record for a professional sports franchise. The agreement remains subject to NBA review once it is signed.

The speed of the appreciation is the story. Walter bought control of the Lakers from the Buss family at a $10 billion valuation, in a deal the NBA Board of Governors approved unanimously in October 2025. Roughly a year later, the same franchise, in the same building, is changing hands again at a number 25 percent higher. Scarcity drives that math: there are 30 NBA teams, and marquee franchises almost never come to market.

The remaining piece of the transaction is the Buss family’s leftover stake. The buying group moved to purchase the family’s remaining 17.8 percent directly, and five of the six Buss siblings voted to sell. Under the reported structure, Kushner, the founder of Thrive Capital, would be majority owner, with former Disney chief Bob Iger taking a minority stake and running day to day operations, according to Front Office Sports reporting. Buying the final 17.8 percent would drop Jeanie Buss below the 15 percent ownership threshold required to keep her role as team governor, and she is contesting the sale in Los Angeles Superior Court, with the matter due in December.

Once the agreement is signed, it goes to the NBA, which reviews the financing and ownership structure before the Board of Governors votes. The league itself is two years into an 11 year, $76 billion national media deal that runs to 2036, and those guaranteed television revenues are the foundation under valuations like this one. A $12.5 billion price tag is no longer an outlier headline; it is the new reference point for every owner who sells next.

Paramount Posts Its First Numbers After the $110 Billion Warner Bros. Deal

Published

4 days ago

November 11, 2026

We Speak Media

The Melrose Gate at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood. Photo by Coolcaesar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Paramount has given Wall Street its first look at life after the biggest merger in entertainment. In its third quarter earnings report on Monday, November 9, the first since closing the $110 billion combination with Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount reported a profit of $73 million on revenue of $7 billion, as growth in streaming and the studio business offset continued declines in traditional television.

The streaming numbers carry the report. Paramount+ revenue grew 21 percent to $2.13 billion, and the service added 600,000 subscribers in the quarter to reach 82.2 million. Counted together, Paramount+, HBO and HBO Max now reach 203 million subscribers worldwide. The direct to consumer business as a whole posted a profit of $225 million, with revenue up 11 percent to $2.5 billion. The studio segment was the other bright spot, with profit of $129 million and revenue up 23 percent to $1.5 billion, helped by licensing and content produced for third parties.

The merger math is where the pressure sits. Skydance shared plans to generate at least $6 billion in cost savings across areas including real estate, labor, technology, marketing and procurement. Because the Warner Bros. Discovery deal did not close until the fourth quarter, its results were not consolidated into this report, so the combined company’s real baseline arrives next quarter.

The product roadmap is already set. HBO Max and Paramount+ will launch as a bundle in early 2027 and will be merged onto the same technology backend within the first year after closing. Starting in the fourth quarter, the company will also stop disclosing subscriber numbers on a quarterly basis, a change that shifts attention from subscriber counts to revenue and profit per user.

Paramount said it remains on track for the high end of its 2026 profitability forecast of $3.9 billion. The next report, with Warner Bros. Discovery fully inside the numbers, is the one that shows whether the merger math works.